HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONTINUES CONSIDERATION OF CZECH REPUBLIC'S REPORT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Human Rights Committee
72nd session
11 July 2001
Afternoon





Czech Government Unhappy about Special Schools
for Roma, Delegation Says



A delegation of the Czech Republic this afternoon told the Human Rights Committee that the Government was unhappy about the status of the special schools where Roma children were assigned and that it believed that those schools should gradually be replaced by regular educational institutions.

The Czech delegation said that those schools were intended for children who could not keep up with regular educational institutions; and that the Government believed that the special schools should be changed; a pedagogical reform had to be introduced; and Roma children should be provided with individual assistance in order to attend regular schools. The authorities were committed to reducing the number of Roma children going to the special schools by assigning them to other schools, the delegation added.

The delegation also told the Committee that because of the country's geographical position and its open boarders, the Czech Republic had been a cross-road for trafficking in women from East European countries to Western Europe and as far as Thailand and the Dominican Republic.

The Czech Republic is among the 148 States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and as such it must provide periodic summaries of the measures undertaken and the achievements made as a result of the implementation of the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 p.m. on Thursday, 12 July, it is expected to finalize its consideration of the initial report of the Czech Republic.


Consideration of Czech Report

In response to a number of queries put by Committee Experts before the adjournment of the morning session, the Czech delegation said that the large Polish and German minorities in the country were designated as national minorities while the Roma were considered to be an ethnic minority. Nevertheless, since there was no consensus on those terminologies, the Government was contemplating to enact a law which would consider all categories as either national or ethnic minorities.

Article 27 of the Covenant which stipulated that ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities enjoyed their own culture, religion or language was not violated by the Czech Republic as alluded to by one of the Experts, the delegation said. The right to citizenship of some minorities, however, had been disrupted following division of the federation and by the creation of two nations -- the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Certain Roma minorities moved from Slovakia to the Czech Republic after the creation of the two nations, thus making their citizenship situation difficult to determine.

The delegation was asked to provide a breakdown of data on ethnic backgrounds of public servants, to which the delegation said that such data could not be made available because individuals were not asked to divulge their ethnic origins in any official papers. In the same manner, during the recent census of 2001, the number of the Roma population was found to be only 11,000 compared with that of 1991 which was 33,000. However, it was estimated that the number of Roma population could be between 150,000 to 200,000. Many Roma people wrongly believed that identifying their ethnic origin might be disadvantageous and might cause loss of social benefits. Ethnic identification was a negative reminder of the Holocaust and the consequences of the Second World War in which Jews and Roma had been among the victims.

The Government of the Czech Republic was unhappy about the status of the special schools where Roma children were assigned, the delegation said. Those schools were intended for children who could not keep up with regular educational institutions. The Government believed that the special schools should be changed; a pedagogical reform had to be introduced; and Roma children should be provided with individual assistance in order to attend regular schools. The authorities were committed to reducing the number of Roma children going to the special schools by assigning them to other schools.

Employment and housing conditions were affected by the generous social system of the country, the delegation said. Persons, such as the Roma, were offered employment for salaries which were either equivalent to or less than the social benefits that they received. For that reason, the Government was gradually increasing the minimum wage beyond the social benefits payments. In addition, jobs which were intended for Roma were occupied by migrant workers from Ukraine and Moldova who accepted any low salary. It was not known if the Roma unemployment rate was 70 or 90 per cent, the delegation added.

With regard to housing, many of the Roma population lived in sub-standard houses in areas which were predominantly inhabited by Roma, the delegation said. The law protected the rights of tenants and eviction was very rare, except on court orders. The authorities did not go along with popular anti-Roma prejudice in matters of housing allocation. In addition, no political party used rhetoric speeches against the Roma population.

Committee members suggested the launching of a dialogue between the majority Czech population and the Roma; the delegation said the Government had put a lot of resources in public awareness campaigns; teachers and the media were called to promote tolerance in their respective fields; and the Government itself had taken a high degree of commitment to promote a dialogue.

The delegation said that minor bullying cases in the military were handled through a disciplinary procedure; however, bullying as a military offence of violating rights was treated under the penal code. Bullying in prisons was a continuous problem.

On the issue of child sexual abuse, the delegation said that such an offence was punishable by up to 8 years imprisonment. In addition, a pilot project of monitoring mistreatment of children had been put in place in many of the districts involving teachers and the police. Teachers and the police were required to report any incident with respect to child mistreatment. The Government had also continued to provide grants from its regular budget to non-governmental organizations working in child protection activities.

Trafficking in children had not been found in the country during the last ten year, except for one case which involved an illegal adoption of a child. It was later settled.

Because of its geographical position and its open door policy, the Czech Republic had been a cross-road for trafficking in women, the delegation said. Women from the East European countries had been trafficked through the country to be used as prostitutes in Western European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. Organized gangs had also been smuggling women from countries as far as Thailand and the Dominican Republic. The Czech Republic was used as a transit country.

The Government had to use police force in order to calm down the violence that followed the peaceful demonstration against the meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank which took place in September 2000, the delegation said. The violent actions by some of the demonstrators had resulted in the destruction of property, and the confrontation between the protesters and the police had prompted the Government to use forceful measures. However, the use of force did not amount to torture.

Turning to the remaining written questions prepared by Committee members in advance, the delegation said that in order to overcome overcrowding in detention facilities, the Government had taken measures and had constructed additional prisons.



* *** *